Estonia, Good for Business, Railways, Transport

The company's loss for the period contracted from 5.23 million euros to 5.17 million euros, it appears from the annual report. Elron's operating revenue totaled 46.36 million euros, marking an increase of 2.4% over 2018.

Ticket revenue amounted to 18.6 million euros, 17% more than in 2018. The increase in ticket revenue was a result of bigger passenger numbers and a rise in fares by 5% on the average in August.   

Other operating revenue was down 5.4% at 27.8 million euros. Compared with an operating profit of 522,000 euros posted for 2018, the train operator registered an operating loss of 980 euros in 2019.

The company's operating costs in 2019 amounted to 46.4 million euros, which is 3.6% more than in 2018. The biggest expenditure items last year were the railway infrastructure user fee in the amount of 19.9 million euros, or 43% of operating costs; labor costs at 8.4 million euros, or 18.1% of operating costs; energy and fuel at 7.1 million euros, or 15.3% of operating costs; and depreciation and amortization of fixed assets at 5.6 million euros, or 12% of operating costs. 

The state subsidy for the company amounted to 21.2 million euros, being smaller by 4.1% than in 2018. The state allocated additionally five million euros in 2018 and eight million euros in 2019 to Elron for diesel train lease payments. 

The annual general meeting of Elron endorsed the annual report last week. It also decided to cover the loss for the period using retained profits from previous periods. The balance of retained profits after the profit distribution is 153.1 million euros.

The company will pay no dividend to the state for the financial year 2019.